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When you meet someone and it starts to get all serious, the relentless quizzing begins: “Are you going to put a ring on her finger, then?” Two nanoseconds after the engagement announcement everyone wants to know when the wedding is. On the wedding day the question shifts to when the

In a couple of days Xav turns three. Everyone tells you that time somehow fast-forwards when kids are growing up. I think I’m really lucky because I had some experience of this before he was born. My youngest brother was born when I was 15 and we bought him his

Xav turns three next Thursday. And he still drinks milk in the morning and at night from a bottle. We’ve tried on numerous determined occasions to introduce a different vestibule for his beloved white stuff, and each time the score ends up: Xav – 1, Parents – 0. He’s nowhere

Dear 2012 Ursula, I know you’re bricking it. I know you’re not 100% convinced you’ll be up to this parenthood gig. You don’t think you’ve got a maternal bone in your body, and joke that you’re ‘made of stone’ because you just don’t get gooey over babies. You love your

When I was expecting my baby, I was naïve. How could I not have been? I was about to get the job of my life with zero training or preparation. So I prepped as much as I could. I was religious in my research of all things parenthood and filled

We love our kids. Being a mum makes us understand who we could become and gives us the reason to get on with the business of becoming that better version of ourselves. Some days being mum is so incredible it all gets a bit overwhelming. Some days it’s just plain

I started this blog last summer to try and help other mums to find the strength and time to pull themselves up from the bottom of the pile and start looking after themselves a bit better by making time for exercise. I needed to do that very thing myself. Over

I’ve found myself ending up at my toddler’s new favourite soft play at some point during the past nine days out of ten. Partly because he discovered last week when we went for the first time in ages that he thinks it is absolutely the most awesome place in the

Sometimes it’s ok to lower your expectations. This is my mantra right now. I started thinking about this recently when I pretty much reached what felt dangerously like breaking point. I’ve literally been forced to re-evaluate. Life in the Tavender household has been tough in the past six months. Tougher

They say hindsight is a wonderful thing. Becoming a mother has given my life a beautiful purpose. It has brought me more joy and gratitude than I could ever have imagined I’d experience. My son is my life’s single greatest triumph. He is also the single biggest challenge I’ve ever